Students shout slogans in a rally to protest against the gang rape and murder of a woman in New Delhi (Picture: EPA)

‘We worship goddesses in India, but when it comes to females, we don’t respect them,’ said 24-year-old protester Kritika Sharma. Indian society is littered with contradictions, but this one has come to dog the nation’s conscience.

India’s Republic Day is supposed to be a celebration of military might and cultural pride. This year’s event was overshadowed by the horrific gang rape and murder of a woman in the capital on December 16.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked on a bus along with a male friend.

The gang proceeded to rape and torture the physiotherapy student as the bus circled the city. They were thrown off without clothes and she died 13 days later at a hospital in Singapore.

In a country where a woman is raped every 21 minutes, this incident was particularly harrowing and prompted thousands to protest for justice and hold vigils nationwide.

A short distance away from the pomp and military parade in India’s capital two Saturdays ago, more than 1,000 people marched to ‘reclaim the Republic’ in a peaceful protest.

Most of the protesters were students, supported by the All India Progressive Women’s Association.

It was by no means the largest protest since the attack, but it embodied the broadened social cause championed by India’s youth for an end to sexual violence and gender discrimination.

‘We want justice,’ chanted the protesters, but no longer is their objective solely to seek punishment for the six suspects, one of whom will be will tried in a juvenile court as he is 17 years old.

Under the banner of ‘Freedom without fear’, the call is for lasting social reform and a change in attitudes.

‘The politicians are not listening, they are not listening to their own people,’ said Davinder Dhiman, 34, who was part of a group of protesters undertaking a fast.

‘This is about more than justice – we want social, political and police reforms.’

The protesters have a list of ten demands, one of which is a programme of gender sensitisation to be implemented in schools, which would teach children to respect the opposing sex.

‘Prevention is better than the cure,’ added Davinder.

Education is a key tenet of the movement, but in a country of more than 1.2bn people, the message is not easy to transmit.

Theatre is proving to be an effective method in educating others. The crowd of protesters and onlookers, who had been in the road chanting slogans for change, moved to sit in a circle creating a makeshift stage where a youth drama group acted out a play in Hindi featuring song and dance.

The performance, well received by the audience, played upon the contradiction of worshipping goddesses, but not respecting women.

‘Theatre is one of the ways to reach out to people,’ said Kritika, from the group Nirbhaya, meaning fearless, one of a dozen organisations taking part in the protest. irbhaya is the name given to the rape victim by some sections of the media.

‘When you educate through plays and music, it has a value, people will see it and remember it.’

At the weekend, it emerged that the five men accused of the attack have pleaded not guilty to rape and murder. The court will being hearing evidence this week.

If found guilty, they could face the death penalty, a punishment that many in India would support.

For 25-year-old activist Anubhuti Agnes Bara, justice is not the main issue.

She said: ‘As far as justice is concerned, the rape has already happened, why did we have to wait for such an act to happen?

‘The death penalty is not the answer, we want to reclaim our republic. Why can’t women live in a free atmosphere?

‘We’re trying to reach people through cultural activities like films or plays and we’re taking to campaign to schools and colleges.

‘We’re very positive, it will take a long time, but we need to sustain the movement.’

The Indian media is filled with stories of rape and sexual assault on a daily basis.

An eight-year-old girl was raped in New Delhi on January 17. The victim’s family is under pressure from their landlord to vacate their accommodation.

A seven-year-old girl was raped in a school toilet in Vasco, Goa, on January 14. The headteacher took three hours to report the attack and was arrested by police for negligence. A teacher also allegedly destroyed evidence at the scene. The rapist has not been caught.

Of the 24,206 rape cases to go before the courts in India in 2011, 26 per cent resulted in a conviction.

It would be wrong to suggest that such crimes do not blight other societies across the world, but in India there is a tendency to blame the victim.

Protest organiser Richie Lutharia, 33, said women often do not report rape for fear of reprisals.

‘The mindset of the people here is a big problem,’ he said.

‘[Women] don’t report rape because they think nobody will marry a woman who has been raped, while people will try to blame her, they will say she is the person responsible.’

Last month, Indian spiritual leader Asaram Bapu outraged many when he said the victim of the gang rape in New Delhi shared the blame. ‘Guilt is not one-sided,’ he said, adding that had she pleaded with her attackers in God’s name, they would have stopped.

‘People are supporting us,’ said Richie, ‘but they are supporting us from their homes.

‘They fear for their lives. There was another girl brutally raped yesterday. These things happen constantly, so people are afraid to come out and protest.’

The gang rape case has received worldwide media attention and activists have been getting messages of support from across the globe.

Such attention has served to increase the pressure on India’s ruling Congress Party, which drew criticism from a committee assessing the country’s laws on sex crimes.

Headed by ex-chief justice JS Verma, the panel’s report put forward a series of recommendations for the government to implement, including faster trials and greater police accountability.

Protesters called on the government to act upon the recommendations, which did not include the use of the death penalty for rapists.

Justice Verma lamented the role of the authorities in preventing crimes against women, but he reserved praise for the way in which the youth had taken up the cause.

‘Youth has taught us what we, the older generation, were not aware of,’ he said recently. ‘I was struck by the peaceful manner in which the protests were carried out… the youth rose to the occasion.’